Mary Jeffrey

Also Mary Short

Mother of John Gerald Short and grandmother of Ruth (Short) Ellingwood. Born in Berwickshire, Scotland, in 1809, a daughter of William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall as the family accounts have it, she came to Upper Canada with her family about 1820 and married John Short at Cobourg in 1836. Widowed in 1858, she lived at Cobourg and then Woodstock, Ontario, where she died in 1883.

Family tree →Migration map →Research thread: How far back can Ruth Short's Scottish and English ancestry be proven? →
01

Life

  1. 1809
    Born
    8 Jan 1809, Berwickshire, Scotland

    "Born Jan. 8 1809, Berwick, Scotland" on her gravestone: the county of Berwick, since the town of Berwick is in England (WikiTree has Berwick-upon-Tweed). The family accounts have all William Jeffrey's children born at Foulden, Berwickshire. Her son's death certificate and the 1900 census give her birthplace as Scotland.

    documentedprobable
    Sources· 4 found
  2. 1836
    Married John Short
    7 Jan 1836, Cobourg, Northumberland County, Upper Canada

    WikiTree, from Ward Skinner's compilation: at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Cobourg, her brother Andrew Jeffrey a witness. The FamilySearch tree has the same day at "Clarington, Durham." Their daughter Jane was born at Cobourg that November (the gravestone), which favours Cobourg.

    compiledprobable
    Sources· 3 found
  3. 1883
    Died
  4. —
    Buried
02

Family

Father
William Jeffrey c. 1772–1852

Ward Skinner's compiled Descendants of William Jeffrey (WikiTree Jeffrey-569, Lyall-333), the FamilySearch tree and Find a Grave. Her brother Andrew Jeffrey witnessed her marriage. In support [I], her sister Catharine (Mrs. Adam Hall) shares a monument at Peterborough with Mary Lyall, wife of William Jeffrey; and Mary's grandchildren carried the names Lyall (Thomas Lyall Hay, b. 1879) and Hall (William Hall Short, b. 1877). Her baptism would prove it.

compiledprobable
Sources· 5 found
03

Pedigree

documentedcompiledinferred
04

Notes

Mother of John Gerald Short and great-grandmother of Dick Ellingwood. She married John Short at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Cobourg, on 7 January 1836, with her brother Andrew Jeffrey as a witness; Andrew (1800-1863), born at Foulden, Berwickshire, was a hardware merchant of Cobourg, an elder of its Presbyterian church from 1827, and its mayor in 1852 (WikiTree, from Skinner). Her daughter Jane was born at Cobourg that November. Widowed in 1858, she was at Cobourg with her children in the 1861 census and later at Woodstock, where she died on 1 November 1883 (source). She is named on the family’s stone with her husband and their daughter Jane (record), and as John Gerald’s mother on his marriage registration and death certificate. Her grandson Jeffrey Robson Short, Cudge Ellingwood’s partner, carried her surname.

Her parents, as the family accounts have them, were William Jeffrey, a blacksmith or stonemason of Foulden, and Mary Lyall, who came to Upper Canada about 1820 and settled at Cobourg and then near Keene, Peterborough County. Her brothers and sisters, as Find a Grave and Skinner’s compilation give them: Andrew (1800-1863), “born at Foulden, Scotland” on his stone at Cobourg; Isabella (1801-1885), Mrs. George Gillespie of Otonabee; Jean (1803-1887), Mrs. Grigg; Catharine (1806-1882), Mrs. Adam Hall of Peterborough, on whose family monument Mary Lyall is commemorated (source); and, less certainly, William (1802-1879), of King Township. Andrew and the four sisters are John Graham’s “five children, one boy and four girls” (source). The family’s names point the same way: Mary’s daughter Isabella named a son Thomas Lyall Hay (1879), and her son Joseph William named children Mary Jeffrey (1875) and William Hall (1877) (source).

Her children: Jane (1836-1909), Richard (1840/1-1904), Joseph William (1842-1924), Mary Blair (1844-1928), John Gerald (1845-1916) and Isabella (1848-1924, Mrs. James Hay); see John Short’s page.

Research: research/ellingwood/Short_Pattullo_Comparison.md, research/ellingwood/Ellingwood_Wives_Families.md.

Open questions

  • Her baptism, January 1809, in the Foulden register (or another Berwickshire parish): her parents’ names, which would prove the link to William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall.
  • Her death date: 1 Nov 1883 (the gravestone) or 15 Nov (WikiTree). The Ontario death registration for Woodstock would settle it.
05

Pictures

Gravestone of John Short, Mary (Jeffrey) Short and their daughter JaneGravestone of John Short, Mary (Jeffrey) Short and their daughter JaneA Short and Jeffrey family groupA Short and Jeffrey family groupRelated · 2 pagesGravestone of Hon. Andrew Jeffrey and Janet Hall, CobourgGravestone of Hon. Andrew Jeffrey and Janet Hall, CobourgRelatedGravestone of William Jeffrey and Mary Wilkie, St. Paul's Presbyterian Cemetery, LintonGravestone of William Jeffrey and Mary Wilkie, St. Paul's Presbyterian Cemetery, LintonRelatedJohn Short's gravestone, Lawrence Cemetery, OronoJohn Short's gravestone, Lawrence Cemetery, OronoRelatedMary Lyall's monument, Little Lake Cemetery, PeterboroughMary Lyall's monument, Little Lake Cemetery, PeterboroughRelatedMary Lyall's monument, Little Lake Cemetery, Peterborough: the inscriptionMary Lyall's monument, Little Lake Cemetery, Peterborough: the inscriptionRelated"Funeral of Richard J. Short," South Haven, Michigan, 1904"Funeral of Richard J. Short," South Haven, Michigan, 1904RelatedMarriage of John G. Short and Mary Pattullo, Woodstock, 1879Marriage of John G. Short and Mary Pattullo, Woodstock, 1879RelatedDeath certificate of John G. Short, Spokane, 1916Death certificate of John G. Short, Spokane, 1916Related

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